Knowing How to Slice a 5G Transport Network
5G carriers have deployed miles and miles of fiber optic links and deployed backbone networks across entire countries. They will also need to deploy thousands of 5G nodes and configure countless “slices” of the network to support the needs of different services with unique requirements for bandwidth, latency and resiliency. For example:
| Service Type | Service Delivery Requirements |
| Video | Average BW; low latency |
| Gaming | High BW; extremely low latency |
| Storage | Very high BW; latency is irrelevant |
| IoT | Low BW; low latency; low resiliency |
| Business | High BW; high resiliency; high BW |
In order to divide the physical network into 5G slices, each with its own connectivity, BW, latency, resiliency, and connectivity paths to support its services, CSPs need to understand with certainty all the network resources they have, all the connections between them, and where all the service traffic goes.
Think of a 5G network slice as a self-contained virtual network with provisioned connectivity that uses pre-defined service paths between multiple points in the slice. Some slices are managed internally by service providers for different types of services. Some slices are open and accessible to other vendors or customers who will configure and manage their own services within the slice.
One thing is certain. Network slicing cannot be done manually or without software defined networking (SDN). For example, a great deal of automation is required for 5G slicing to be able to bind VRFs to specific tunnels and to stitch them across domain boundaries.
Use Sedona NetFusion to Automate 5G Transport Slicing
The accurate and complete network inventory you get from Sedona NetFusion Network Intelligence and Automation Platform is pre-requisite for service automation – especially sensitive services such as Enterprise VPN. Sedona fits into any SDN environment to help you automate 5G:
- Slice Management
- Faster Root Cause Analysis
- Service Management
- Resiliency Assurance
- Vulnerability Analysis